Speaking at The Edge Singapore’s Year-End Investment Forum on Nov 27, Chan says: “There was a catch-up. It was just that it was very low before. It’s not over-valued now.”
Titled Property vs SG Stocks, which would be a better investment for 2026? the forum was held at the SGX Auditorium and drew over 160 attendees. Chan was one of three panellists at the forum, speaking alongside Samuel Lee, CEO of the real estate investment platform, Fraxtor Private Limited, and Gerald Wong, the founder and CEO of the investment advisory platform, Beansprout.
This year’s forum began with a series of presentations from Lee, Chan, and Wong, before ending off with a panel discussion moderated by Felicia Tan, associate editor at The Edge Singapore.
See also: The Edge Singapore repeats Story of the Year, Hidden Gem wins at SGX Orb Awards
Launched on Sep 22 by the SGX Group, the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Indices, or Next 50, was part of SGX Group’s efforts to showcase more companies besides Singapore’s top 30 blue chips. The indices are available in two variants, and are weighed either by market capitalisation or liquidity. SGX Group says the Next 50 has generated an 18% total return in 2H2025 to Nov 4.
The launch of the Next 50 takes place amid a wider push by SGX Group and the MAS to revitalise the Singapore stock market. In August 2024, the MAS set up a review group to recommend measures to strengthen Singapore’s stock market. The group released its final report on Nov 19.
The recommended measures include establishing a dual-listing bridge between SGX and Nasdaq, a “Value Unlock” programme to help listed companies enhance their investor relations, corporate strategy and capital optimisation, as well as an Equities Market Development Programme (EQDP) to raise investor interest and channel capital into Singapore equities market.
See also: ACE Team Foundation raises $5 mil to support adults with autisum at inaugural fundraiser
As part of the EQDP, $3.95 billion out of the total $5 billion EQDP fund has been placed with nine asset managers to invest in Singapore-listed stocks. They include: Avanda Investment Management, Fullerton Fund Management, JP Morgan Asset Management, Amova Asset Management (formerly Nikko Asset Management), AR Capital, BlackRock, Eastspring Investments, Lion Global Investors, and Manulife Investment Management.
According to SAC Capital’s Chan, the EQDP fund could make up between 2.7% to 8.1% of an estimated $185 billion in investable market capital, depending on how much money gets crowded in on top of MAS’s initial $5 billion. Chan’s estimate excludes the roughly $657 billion market capital of the STI’s constituents as well as the $185 billion in capital tied up with the majority shareholders of the remaining Singapore-listed stocks.
“That to me doesn’t move the needle; it may even bend the needle,” Chan says.
When asked if the depressed valuations of Singapore-listed equities stem from low liquidity or limited sector diversity, Chan says it is the former that is the culprit. “If it’s on a five year horizon, we are still extremely cheap now because we were so ignored. It then flows to the logic there was low liquidity. Nobody cared. Low liquidity is just a fancy word for nobody cared.”
Time to sell?
Aside from equities, attendees were interested in the outlook of Singapore’s property market. More than a third of the audience says real estate makes up more than 30% of their investment portfolio, according to a straw poll conducted at the start of the event.
For more stories about where money flows, click here for Capital Section
According to MAS’s annual financial stability review, average sales volumes for the private residential property market in the first three quarters of 2025 have exceeded average levels for the past three years. Private home prices have also risen by 2.7% year-to-date for the nine months to end-September.
In a Nov 27 report, the investment bank CLSA says cooling measures could be introduced if residential property prices continue to climb. Fraxtor’s Lee, however, says that just because property prices are at record levels does not mean it is a signal to sell.
The take-up rate in the residential market remains strong, and Singapore’s population and wealth have continued to grow, Lee says. “I don’t think it’s the time to sell. Even if growth is muted, I don’t foresee, at this point in time, looking six to 12 months, a crash coming.”
Deciding whether to sell isn’t just about price, but also what one plans to do with the freed up capital, says Beansprout’s Wong. Investors need to ask themselves what their next best alternative is after they sell their properties, whether it be putting their money into overseas property or into the stock market. This thought process applies to equities as well.
“Another question I commonly get is, ‘DBS is at an all-time high, should I then sell?’ What I always go back to is, are you looking to then hold cash? Are you looking to switch into UOB? Are you looking to buy REITs? Because that then allows us to better frame this question,” Wong says.
Things to look out for
When it comes to investing in REITs, interest rates are the number one indicator Wong looks at. Falling interest rates will reduce financing costs and drive more capital into the real estate market, thus driving better valuations.
Wong expects the Fed to carry out more interest rate cuts in 2026. This will drive a lot of price movements on Singapore REITs. In October, the Fed cut interest rates by 25 bps to 3.75%-4%. This is the second time the Fed cut interest rates this year. The Fed’s first cut was in September, when it lowered interest rates by 25 bps to 4%-4.25%.
Besides keeping an eye on the Fed’s interest rate cuts, Wong says REITs investors should monitor 10-year bond yields. If 10-year bond yields do not come down in spite of repeated rate cuts by the Fed, then it suggests that investors are still expecting interest rates to main high over the long-term.
In terms of retail property investments, Fraxtor’s Lee says he looks at two indicators: retail sales and occupancy costs. The latter is not as commonly mentioned as the former, but is an important signal for the retail market and shopping malls. Occupancy costs are essentially the ratio between the rent paid by a tenant to its sales, and ranges between 16% to 17% in Singapore, he adds.
Focus on the fundamentals
“Overall, in the real estate market, interest rates are a big driver of returns,” Lee says. “I think it may be interesting to get some allocation before the rates bottom up, because once it bottoms up, then you lose that upside that you can get from falling rates.”
Equity investors, on the other hand, should go back to looking at a stock’s fundamentals, says SAC Capital’s Chan. Investors need to be comfortable with companies and understand what their drivers are. This will allow them to figure out whether their valuations are fair or expensive because its earnings have yet to come in.
Another approach involves looking at a company’s historical valuation. If a company is trading at 15 to 20 times now, when it used to be trading at seven or eight times, then it could justify some rethinking on whether to maintain your position.
“It’s not a negative signal. It is a fundamental signal that I think you must stay true to, and be robust to the methodology,” Chan says.
